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Hi,

I live in Tokyo, Japan and I was wondering what the best GPS unit to purchase is. I basically need one that can get me around Tokyo and the outlying areas? The GPS units here are very expensive and in Japanese. Are there any models out there that provide driving instructions in English? Even if it's not in English that's ok? Are there any products that will provide door to door directions in Japan? I'm looking for one that doesn't have to be installed in the car.

Thanks.

there are free japanese maps available at rwsmaps.griffel.se which will fit any standard garmin. i doubt they autoroute tho and the quality probably sucks.
if youre living in japan, learning japanese is probably recommended.

I do know Japanese, so having the display in Japanese isn't a problem. I would like something that's removable though and something that I can use in the US.

Are there any GPS units that I can purchase in the US that will work in Japan? What happens when I bring a unit that I've purchased in the US to Japan? Will it work? Do I need to put additional maps on it? Are there units that come with maps already?

Bumping this thread to say that I'm in a similar situation.
I live in the US but I will be in Japan briefly in September. I'm considering purchasing a standalone receiver for walking around and being on the subway, not driving. What could I purchase here in the US that is guaranteed to work in Japan? My Japanese is hardly fluent but I have memorized enough placenames to make navigating a Japanese map tolerable. I can read the paper maps that I have now and what maps.google.com has of Tokyo.

A bunch of co-workers have purchased the Garmin Nuvi 360. To have the Japan map, you must purchase it in Japan (you're going to want to sell it to someone else in Japan before you go back home, too--either you can't get US maps to load into it, or it is cost-prohibitive).

I just bought mine TODAY at Yodobashi in Tokyo for 52800 yen (approx $493). It is in Japanese, but there is a way to change the output language (speach, user input for saved data points, etc.) to English.

If you want to go to a certain address, you will need to know it in Japanese. But, you can go to a phone # (been told this will get you within a block or so), or you can go to a lat/long coordinate that you pull off of something like google-earth (extremely accurate directions).

Good luck!